Officer's job under review, homicide squad called in, as advocates call out police handling of 95yo tasering

Clare Nowland was at Yallambee Lodge in Cooma when staff called NSW Police to the facility

An advocacy group representing people with disabilities has criticised a senior constable for his use of a taser on a 95-year-old woman with dementia at her Cooma aged care facility.

Key points:

• A NSW Police critical incident investigation will be independently reviewed
• People with Disability Australia said the situation should have been de-escalated by police
• The woman's family has declined to comment

Great-grandmother Clare Nowland is in a critical condition at Cooma Base Hospital after the incident at the Yallambee Lodge, where she was tasered by police and fell to the ground, hitting her head. 

A senior constable, who now has his duty status under review, discharged his taser on Ms Nowland after they were called to the lodge by staff, who believed the 95-year-old was carrying a knife. 

NSW Police have confirmed the state's homicide squad will be investigating the incident.   

Clare Nowland remains in a critical condition at Cooma  Base Hospital

"She’s either one hell of an agile, fit, fast and intimidating 95-year-old woman, or there’s a very poor lack of judgement on those police officers and there really needs to be some accountability on their side," Ms Lee said. 

"This woman, an older woman of 95, she needed somebody to de-escalate the situation with her and to talk to her, and to handle her with compassion and time and not tasers."

She said the use of force by police against people with disabilities was all too common. 

"Clearly, there's not enough training for police around de-escalation tactics for people with psychosis or Alzheimer's or dementia, for people living with psychosocial disability, autism, or schizophrenia, or anything like that," Ms Lee said.

Yallambee Lodge in Cooma is run by the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, which has declined to comment.

Ms Lee said the aged-care sector should also do more to manage incidents involving people with dementia without using force. 

"The fact that they've gone to police shows that there's a failure of protocols somewhere along the way, or a lack of resources or understanding on their behalf on the service's behalf on how to handle this situation."

NSW Police commissioner Karen Webb said the investigation will be subject to an independent review.

"My thoughts are with the family at this difficult time," she said.

"I understand and share the community concerns and assure you that we are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness." 

Ms Lee said the incident demonstrated a lack of training in how to de-escalate a situation

NSW Seniors Rights Service spokesperson Margaret Crothers said it was hard to comment on the case without more detail, but added the situation did not demonstrate normal practice in aged care.

"It must raise concerns, no one wants their grandmother or their mother tasered. 

“Everyone is concerned about the use of restraint and certainly the use of force from either police or staff and it’s just something that everyone is mindful of in aged care."

There would had to have been an assessment as to the danger to the older woman herself and for the other residents and the staff, she said.

Snowy Monaro Regional Council said it was supporting staff, residents and Ms Nowland's family.

The great-grandmother had previously volunteered at a charity store in Cooma, before suffering from dementia in recent years.

Her family are by her bedside in hospital and have declined to comment on the incident.

Yallambee Lodge in Cooma, which is run by the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, opened in 1995.

According to its website, Yallambee Lodge offers "palliative care" and can cater to residents with "higher needs".

How real estate agents get away with selling dodgy properties

The colony’s laws have been set up to benefit actions in business/commerce/trade.

The tax system has been (deliberately) geared up to the benefit of corporations, many avoid paying tax altogether for their entire business existence. 

Throughout all this unfairness ‘persons’ who participate in the economy have been classified as ‘consumers’, where consumer law has been introduced to give an illusion of fairness.

Sure, many examples can be brought up in court cases where the corporations ‘lost’ and the consumer allegedly won.

Australia is a protectionist nation, and will go to any lengths to keep this, irrespective of how the ‘consumer’ is harmed, as long as the government isn’t.

One industry that is allowed to continue racketeering is the real estate industry, because the government directly benefits from this.

IF a licenced motor car trader sells an automobile, checks & balances must be made, where the road-worthiness of the vehicle must be proved with the appropriate paperwork.

The onus is then on the (licenced) seller.

No such luck in the the real estate market.

In MANY instances a residential dwelling is presented to a prospective ‘consumer’ and the realtor is fully aware of the dwellings pitfalls, which are deliberately hidden from the purchaser.

Not only this, but the agent is absolved from any responsibility or liability, where a 180 is done and this falls on the purchaser, under a scam called ‘due diligence’.

In Victoria, the ‘due diligence’ checklist falls under the responsibility of the ‘consumer’ as stated in the institution called Consumer Affairs Victoria, at the time of this post, under the address: https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/duediligencechecklist

As we know the more the dwelling sells for the more the government benefits, raking in the dollars, therefore exposing any problems before a sale will lower the sale price of the property, therefore costing the government, therefore there is no benefit for the government to implement any law to protect the ‘consumer’ in this regard.

Another scam ‘supported’ by the colonial government.

Scammers sending fake Telstra mail

(source:supplied)

When people think of scammers, many might have the idea in mind that sophisticated hooks are embedded in emails or websites or smartphone related communications.

But scammers have gone 'old school' for quite some time.

Scammers have enlisted Australia Post to deliver their fraudulent message (fake envelope on the right), as they have done so for over a decade in relation to another scam that the government has failed to act on, early in the piece, where some people are still receiving those types of letters.

In relation to the Telstra scam, the scammers have gotten hold of the customer's full name and address, stating that they have been trying to contact that person.

In the letter, there is a phone number which the scammers are in possession of, in order to steal more information to commit fraud.

Scammers have used Australia Post previously to con businesses to 'renew' their internet domain name.

The scammer's letter looks like it's a renewal for the targeted business, where in the scam letter there will be number zero (0), instead of the letter 'O', or any other character that will be different from the legitimately registered internet address.

See post:

Domain Name Group Fraud

Microsoft enforcing its internet browser needs a reminder like in the good ol' days.

Microsoft is again engaging in anti-competitive behaviour without any court action.

It's 'forcing' its users to use the inbuilt browser, instead of allowing the user to freely choose competitive products.

Last time this occurred, Microsoft was in the courts and as a result it was fined.

No such action even after months of this fraudulent activity?

See more within the link:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/02/16/discover-new-ways-to-multitask-with-microsoft-365-and-edge/

See also video: